Holding On to Hope
by Jayallen
Summary: Nick's stalker, Nigel Crane, comes back and puts Nick again in a precarious situation. Chapter 9 UP! Story now complete. I changed the title from Holding On to Holding On to Hope because I realized that there was already another story with that title.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:**

_Holding On_

**Summary:**

_Nick's stalker, Nigel Crane, comes back and puts Nick again in a precarious situation. This is my first fanfiction, so please review so I know what I should work on._

**Disclaimer:**

_I do not own any of these characters. This is entirely fictional and does not represent the views of CSI or any of its affiliates._

Nick Stokes had just gotten into the shower when he heard the familiar ring of his cell phone. Cursing under his breath he quickly slipped out and retrieved the annoying device before its final ring.

"Stokes"

"Nick, where are you?"

"Catherine? I'm at home. Why? What's wrong?" Catherine sounded worried and it took a lot to rattle her cage so that alone put Nick on edge.

"It's Nigel Crane, your stalker. He escaped custody about two hours ago."

Nick stood then in utter silence trying to soak up the information that she had just conveyed to him. "What do you mean he escaped custody?"

"He was being transported to a hearing when he somehow escaped custody."

"Why are you just calling me now instead of two hours ago?"

"We just found out. Apparently the sheriffs department didn't feel it prudent to inform us. They insist that he no longer has any interest in you and that you are in no danger. But I say that is a load of bull. Brass is sending someone over to your house now and you are going to be in protective custody until Crane is caught or dead." Catherine voice just seeped in anger as she conveyed not only her concern for nick but her fear as well.

"Okay, as soon as he gets here though I'm heading into the office."

"That's fine will see you in about an hour."

Nick hung up the phone and again just stood there for a minute trying to allow all of this information to seep through. After everything that had happened to him in his life he couldn't believe that this was happening now. Hadn't he been through enough, one person could only withstand so much torment.

It was then that he realized that he was standing naked in his bathroom with his gun several hundred feet away from him. He was completely vulnerable where he currently stood and he needed to get moving.

Nick rushed to his front room and removed his gun from his side table and then moved to the bedroom to quickly get dressed. As he was pulling his shirt over his head he heard the solid crunch of someone pulling into his driveway. He grabbed his gun and slowly walked towards the front door. He looked out the peephole and saw no one. He slowly began to unlock the door with his left hand firmly holding his gun in his right with the safety off and opened the door. That's when he felt it. Someone was standing behind him, and the next thing he knew everything was becoming black, and his gun was slowly falling from his hands.

_I know its kind of short, but I just needed to get it started and I feel that all chapters should be a cliffhanger or else why would you want to continue reading it. The next chapter will probably be up really soon._

_PLEASE REVIEW!!_

_Thank You_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you Blue Peanut M&M for the review. I was very surprised and happy to see that after only having my story posted for about six hours that someone had already read it and reviewed. It is because of you that I decided to stay up and post this chapter._

Catherine, Warrick, and Greg stepped out of the Denali and onto the familiar yard. Just a half hour ago Catherine had been talking to Nick on the phone warning him of possible danger from an insane stalker who had someone managed to escape custody.

She had hoped that he would be okay, sending an officer over to protect him as soon as they discovered what that Crane had escaped. But apparently that hadn't been enough. Crane had still somehow gotten to Nick. He was quick it had only been about ten minutes from when she had called Nick and the officer had arrived at his house discovering that Nick was missing.

Catherine reached the Nick's front door staring at the broken splinters that lay across the mat and seeing the abandoned gun on the floor.

"Warrick you work on the back, Greg I want you to check the outside, I've got in here." Both Greg and Warrick nodded at her requests and silently headed off to their destinations.

Catherine began pulling on her gloves and inspecting the room. The front door had been locked when the officer arrived as was evident by the fact that he had to break down the front door even to get access by the house. She inspected the locks and noticed that one of the locks was undone. Catherine knew that Nick kept all there of his front locks secure at all times and that Nick must have been opening the door when whatever happened, happened. Nick's gun which was lying by the door had the safety off which seemed to imply that Nick was wary of something.

She took some pictures of the gun and then picked it up in her hands slowly. She checked the magazine noticing that it was full and that there was a bullet in the chamber. Obviously Nick hadn't fired his weapon. She continued to survey the floor noticing some dirt in the entrance from the living room and the hallway. She again took a photo and collected a sample. Other then the gun there was no sign of a struggle, nothing. It looked as if Nick had just gotten up and left.

Catherine didn't believe that though and neither would anybody else on the team. Nick had been kidnapped, again, and just like before they were going to bring him home safely.

Grissom stepped out of his car and walked across the street to Nick's house. This was deja-vu. He could still remember the last time he had been here when it was a crime scene. He could still see how shaken up Nick had been about the man in his house and how his only comfort to Nick had been "I don't think it was about you Nick." How stupid could he have been, of course it was about Nick why else would Crane have gone through all the trouble of escaping and then kidnapping Nick would he could easily have just made a run for it.

* * *

Grissom walked into the house to be greeted by Catherine who gave him a quick rundown of the facts.

"We don't have much so far. Nick seemed to have his weapon out and ready but he never fired it. I also have a sample of dirt it's probably from Crane's shoe; hopefully it's unique enough for us to get a location out of it. Warrick is in the back processing the scene and Greg is working outside. I was just about to go check up on them do you want to tag along?" Catherine asked noticing how worried her boss seemed to be.

"Yeah, I want to see what they've found."

Grissom followed Catherine to the back door where they found Warrick dusting the door for prints.

"Hey Cath" Warrick responded never looking up from his brush. "I've found a few partials on the inside and I got a nice one on the outside handle. I'm just hoping there not Nicks. This seems like it was the point of entrance and exit for Crane. The door seems to have been picked; I've got signs of tampering."

Both Grissom and Catherine nodded. "Greg says he found drag marks from the back door to the driveway. He's looking for any tire tracks now." Warrick finished the statement with pain in his voice. Grissom couldn't even imagine what Warrick was putting himself through right now. Warrick would be blaming himself for what had happened to Nick even though there was nothing that anybody could have done about it.

"So let's run through what we think happened here." Grissom stated hoping to get Warrick's mind out of his own head and working on the case.

"Well it seems that for some reason Nick went to the front door with his gun drawn and began to unlock the door." Catherine responded.

"Then Crane came in through the back door surprised Nick took him down and then dragged him back out the back door and into a car waiting in the driveway." Warrick added.

"That sounds good. Lets keep processing the scene here I'm going to take Greg and the evidence we have now back with me to the lab and we will start working there." Grissom turned to leave and Catherine and Warrick continued their work.

* * *

Nicks head was killing him and he couldn't remember where he was but he remembered this feeling. This was the same feeling he had when he woke up in the back of Walter Gordon's trunk. This was the feeling you got after being drugged. That is when he remembered.

Crane! Nigel Crane had escaped from custody.

Nick tried to move but soon realized that his hands were tied securely behind his back and that he was moving. "I'm in a car." He said to himself as he started to survey his surroundings. He was in an industrial van of some type. There were no windows and no access to the cab of the van. He tried to move his hands around but realized that they were very securely tied together with zip ties and that without a tool of some kind he was probably not going to be able to free himself.

This time, remembering his previous mistake with Walter Gordon, Nick moved himself to the center of the van and waited. After about an hour of driving they finally came to a stop and Nick listened to Nigel step out of the front door and proceed toward the back of the van where Nick was located.

"Nick? Nick, I know you're probably awake by now. I am going to open this door. I have a gun and I don't want to shoot you, but if you try to attack me I will. Don't make me doing anything that I don't want to do. Do you hear me Nick?" Nick listened to Crane through the back door and considered his options. "Nick? It's not polite to not answer someone when they ask you a question."

"Yeah I understand." Nick responded through gritted teeth even as he placed himself in a squatting position ready to plow towards Crane as soon as he opened the door.

The door slowly began to open, letting in a little light from the outside and Nick prepared himself. Finally the door opened all the way and with a second of hesitation Nick plowed towards Crane knocking both himself and Crane onto the hard dirt floor. Nick began to quickly pick himself back up while Crane was too stunned by the blow when he felt a gun barrel to the back of his neck.

"He warned you." A female voice spoke behind the gun barrel. "You shouldn't have done that now he is going to have to shoot you. With that Crane pulled himself out from underneath Nick removed his gun from his pants and shot Nick in the arm.

Nick gritted his teeth in pain trying to not give Crane the satisfaction of seeing him in pain, and slowly tried to ignore the pain as the woman roughly grabbed him by his injured arm and steered him towards a big house a few hundred feet in front of them.

_I hoped you liked it. Please continue to review, and more will come._


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks to all of you that have reviewed. Every time I check and see a new review it makes me want to write even more. I am slowly making my chapters longer, but I figured you would rather have shorter chapters with more updates then long chapters with updates once a week._

Nick slowly woke to find that his arm was tightly wrapped in gauze and in a sling. He was lying on a soft bed and a soft light shown in the corner of the room. He slowly sat up trying to remember what had happened. The last thing he could remember he was being led into a house by Crane and some woman that he had never met. Now he was waking up in a bed. This just didn't make any sense. Had someone rescued or was he still with Crane, and if he was still with Crane why was he being so cared for so nicely.

His arm barely hurt, and he could feel painkillers in his system. Nick was not sitting up completely on the bed and was taking a full account of his surroundings. He was in a room that was about 15ft by 15ft that had two doors. One of the doors was open and the other one was closed and looked like it had a magnetic lock on it of some kind. He was lying in a queen size bed with several pillows and a very comfortable comforter. It seemed very similar to the one that he had on his own bed at home. The room also had a table in the corner with two chairs around it, and a bookcase in the corner filled with forensic journals, sports books, and crime novels just like his bookcase at home. A dresser sat in another corner of the room next to the open door.

Nick pulled himself off the bed and walked to the open door, when he stood up he noticed that there was something on his right ankle. He bent down and inspected it noticing an electronic bracelet of some sort attached to it. A green light shown next to a combination lock, Nick figured it was probably transmitting to somewhere, or the light at least meant that it was active. But what did it do? Nick decided to figure that out later and walked to the open door. He entered a bathroom complete with a shower, toilet, and sink. There were a couple of towels on a rack, along with a bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap.

Nick checked under the sink, and inspected the entire bathroom but found nothing else. He went back into the main room and began looking through the dresser. He found a couple pairs of pants, shirts, and underwear. He realized as he was looking at the clothes that they were all his. These were clothes from his house. He was still with Crane and Crane's fantasy had obviously manifested into something different now and this room had something to do with it.

Suddenly Nick heard footsteps coming from the outer door and walked to the wall opposite of it. He watched the door as he heard someone enter a code and a light magnetic lock turned green and then the door opened and in walked Nigel Crane.

The instant Crane came into view Nick lunged for him tackling him to the floor. This time Nick was prepared for the woman and as she reached for him coming in after Crane. Nick punched her and headed for the door. Just as Nick crossed over the threshold of the door an electrical current surged through his body and he collapsed in the entrance.

Crane picked himself up and moved towards Nick grabbing him by the ankles and pulling him out of the threshold and into the middle of the room. Nick had curled in on himself laying in the fetal position while he tried to calm his body from the spasms it was going through thanks to the electrical shock.

"Why the hell did you try and do that Nick?" Crane asked, not bothering to hide the anger that was dripping from his voice. Nick just laid there gasping for breath. "Answer me!" Crane yelled as he kicked Nick in the side, causing Nick to fold in on himself even more.

"I wanted to leave." Nick gasped.

"What for?"

"Late for work." Nick replied sarcastically. This just mad Crane even angrier and he bent down towards Nick so that his face was only inches away from his own.

"I wouldn't do that again. That bracelet you have on your ankle is set to give off an electrical shock whenever you try to cross the threshold. It can only be turned off if you enter the room again or if I decide to turn it off."

"Why?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't stay here voluntarily, not after what all your friends did to me. Sending me to prison and such. You didn't keep in touch and I want to rekindle our friendship so that we can become best friends again. I thought the best way of doing that would be to bring you here, and eventually you would come back to me."

Nick was disgusted by Crane. How in the world could this man be that delusional? They had never been friends and would never be friends. "That won't ever happen." Nick responded.

"We'll see" Crane said, and then he left the room.

Now the woman that had come in the room with Crane walked down to Nick. "Who are you?" Nick asked.

"My name is Carey."

"And why are you helping Crane?"

"Because I love him, and I want to make him happy. And having you for a friend will make him happy, so I am going to help him do that."

"I am never going to be friends with that mad man."

"We'll see," she responded giving him a slight smile as she left the room closing the door behind her.

Nick watched as the magnetic lock turned back to red and the sound of footsteps walking away. He picked himself off the ground and laid in the bed thinking of how he was going to get out of this situation, and hoping that his team would be able to find him.

* * *

It had been almost 24 hours now since Nick had gone missing and they still had found nothing. He had sent Warrick out to the prison where Crane was being held to see if they could find any significant information to help them in their search. Catherine and Greg were working where Crane had escaped custody to see if he had received any help from the outside.

Grissom sat in his office milling over all the evidence trying to find any clue as to where his investigator could be, but he had no luck so far. His phone rang and he picked it up.

"Grissom"

"Hey Gris, it's Warrick. I think I found something here in Crane's cell."

Those words caught Grissom's attention and he pressed the phone even closer to his ear to make sure that he missed nothing. "What is it?"

"I found several letters here to Crane from a Carey no last name. In them they talk about each other and Nick. It seems like they are in love."

"Well that's good. More then likely she helped facilitate his escape. Hurry up and finish down there so we can start processing your evidence."

"On it."

Grissom hung up the phone, having a little more hope in the fact that they might find Nick after all.

_More to come soon please REVIEW!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Finals are coming up and I swear that every proffesor thinks that I should spend all my time working on their class. Thank you everybody who has reviewed. I hope you like this next chapter._

Warrick walked into the crime lab carrying a box full of evidence under his arm. He had spent the last couple of hours pulling everything out of Crane's cell and putting it into evidence bags. He just hoped that the information that they needed to fine Crane and then Nick was in this box.

Warrick walked into the layout room where Greg was waiting for him. They immediately dove into their work hoping for clues. Warrick took out the letters that Crane had received by a woman only known as Carey and dusted for prints. Since she had written the letters her fingerprints were likely on it and if they were lucky she would be in the system and they would have a last name and face to put with her name.

Greg was analyzing other things. Trying to find any clue of where Crane might have taken Nick. There were newspapers clippings on Nick's abduction from a couple years ago, they were well worn and had obviously been read several times. Greg also found a journal that Crane had written in since he first entered prison.

Many of the entries just concerned regular life. There were mentions of Nick and how hurt Crane was by the fact that Nick had ignored him ever since the incident at Nick's home that had cause him to be arrested. About the same time as Nicks abduction Crane started mentioning Carey. They talked about many things including Nick and she seemed to be in love with him and Crane was very happy about this. Now all he wanted was the perfect life with a woman that loved him and his best friend, Nick.

While Greg had been reading the journal entries Warrick had sent off the fingerprints he had lifted from the letters and had come back to go over the letters to see if they could learn anything important from them. Grissom and Catherine soon joined them and were going over all the evidence trying to see if they could possibly see something different that would lead them to Nick.

Hodges entered the layout room. "I have the results of the dirt that you found." Everyone looked up hopefully. "Nothing special really. The components of it suggest that it is a mixture of potting soil and desert dirt. Probably from a farm out in the country."

"That makes sense." Grissom stated. "It wouldn't make sense for Crane to stay in the city, not when ever cop in the state is looking for him."

Everyone agreed that that was probably where he was hiding. Mandy soon walked into the layout room with more news. "I ran the fingerprints you gave me. Besides Crane and a correctional officer there was one other set of prints but they don't match any on record."

* * *

Brass was sitting across from Nigel Crane's cellmate at the Nevada State Correctional Facility.

"So what did you think of Nigel Crane?" Brass asked.

"Nothing really. He talked a lot to himself; I thought he was kind of weird."

"What did he talk about?"

"A guy mostly, his best friend, and a girl."

"Do you remember their names?"

"Umm, Nick and umm something that started with a C. I don't know I had only been with him for a few months, and I usually tried to tune him out."

"You don't remember the girls name at all?" Brass was getting irritated. He needed to find out who this girl was so that they could find Nick it had already been to long, and the chances of them finding Nick were getting slimmer and slimmer.

"I told you it started with a C. Maybe Catherine, Caitlyn, Candy."

"Carey?"

"Yeah that was it. Why is it so important?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Now is it possible that you know her last name at all, or anything that would help me find her."

"Hell no. Like I said I really didn't pay that much attention to him. Your lucky I remembered that much."

Brass was now getting really mad. This guy was of no help. "Did you ever hear Crane ever talk about escaping?"

"Now that I would remember, and no he never said anything to me about it. I thought he was crazy; I was surprised when they said he had gotten away. If I had known he was going to be getting away I would have tried to come along."

"You don't remember anything? Nothing? He never said anything about a house he owned or anything like that?" Brass was practically screaming at the inmate across from him.

"No nothing man. Sorry."

"Fine" Brass signaled to the guard to send him back and then just sat there thinking about Nick and how they had no clue where he could possibly be. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Grissom's number, Grissom needed to know that he hadn't been able to find out any new information.

* * *

Grissom hung up his phone after talking to Brass. This was not good. They had nothing. No evidence to help them, just the fact that Crane had Nick, he was probably out in the desert somewhere, and that there was possibly a woman named Carey helping him.

Grissom was never very religious, he might be catholic but he hadn't gone to mass in a long time, but all he could think of doing now was to pray. Pray that they would find Nick, pray that they would find a piece of evidence that would lead them to Crane, pray for Nick was alive and unharmed.

* * *

Nick sat in the corner of the room; it had been a few hours since he had woken up and discovered himself in this room. He knew that if he was ever wanted to escape he needed to get the bracelet off his leg somehow and then be able to overcome Crane and Carey and get out of this room. That had become more difficult as he had discovered that there was two cameras in this room and another one in the bathroom, every time he tried to inspect the bracelet he would receive a quick jolt. He figured they were watching him and didn't want him to really inspect it. He had moved over to this corner because it seemed to be slightly guarded from the cameras at least enough that he didn't think they could see him inspect the bracelet.

He was wrong as he soon discovered when he received another quick jolt from the bracelet and cried out. A few minutes later he hears footsteps coming from outside the door, and waits to see Crane slowly emerge from the door. In his hands he is carrying a tray of food. There are several slices of pizza, some chips, and a bottle of water. He sits it down on the table and then sits down in one of the chairs.

"Why don't you come up here and join me? I brought you some dinner I figured you were hungry." Crane motions to the chair across from him and Nick stands up but doesn't move any closer to Crane or the food.

"Come on Nick come sit and eat. We can talk?"

That hit Nick as incredibly funny and started laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" Crane asked his face suddenly turning dark.

"Why am I laughing? I'm laughing because you want to talk. Do you really think that we have anything to talk about?"

"Of course we do. We use to be best friends I just want us to be able to be that again."

"Best friends? We were never even friends. You stalked me. You installed my cable one day and then you created this delusion that we were best friends. It never happened Nigel."

Crane didn't like this at all and immediately stood up pulling out a remote from his pants. He hit a button and Nick immediately fell to the ground as electrical current raced through his body. After about thirty seconds of this Crane finally released the button and watched as Nick relaxed.

"We will be friends Nick or you will die. It's that simple don't make it harder then it has to be. I am a very patient man." With that Crane walked out of the room closing the door behind him. Nick watched as the electronic lock turned from green to red, cursing Crane in his mind as he laid there helpless on the ground.

_Again thank you to every one that has been reviewing. Please keep it up and i'll keep the chapters coming._


	5. Chapter 5

_Thank you everyone who has reviewed. Especailly you guys who have reviewed several times. It makes me more and more movtivated everytime I see a new review pop up. I mean last night I was bowling with a dozen friends and all I could think about was seeing if I had more reviews and writing my next chapter. Thank God my boyfriends best friend has an iphone and we stole that to check. Again Thank You everyone._

Nick had no clue how long he had been in the room. It felt like years but he guessed it was probably more like a week. It was hard to tell since he had nothing to help him distinguish night from day. There were no clocks in the room, no windows; nobody came in at any type of regular intervals. The only person he ever saw was Crane and those visits occurred only about once every couple of days.

Crane would come into the room bearing a tray of food, set it down on the table just as he had the second time he had visited nick and would begin talking with Nick. He honestly seemed to want to be friends with Nick. He would ask Nick questions, tell Nick stories about himself, discuss sports, but invariably Nick would say something smart and it would piss Crane off. He would realize that Nick was just playing a long and didn't really believe in any of this. He could see that Nick honestly did not want to be his friend and that is when he would go off.

He would begin to scream at Nick, accusing him of doing horrible things of being self-centered, selfish, and then he would shock Nick with the bracelet, kick him a few times and then leave. Always when Crane left he would apologize saying that all he wanted was for Nick to be his friend and when that happened he wouldn't have to resort to such violence. Nick always laughed at this as Crane closed the door behind him.

Because of how angry Crane became during these encounters he would not come back until he cooled off. This also meant that since Crane wasn't visiting him, Crane also wasn't bringing food for Nick. He was only receiving food about once every couple of days and his hunger was starting to take a toll on him. At least he had a constant supply of water from the bathroom sink. Without that he didn't even know if he would still be standing.

Nick was sitting at the table his back to one of the cameras in the room, and a book in hand blocking his crossed legs from the other camera. As he pretended to read he quickly inspected the bracelet knowing that if there was any chance of his escape he had to get the bracelet off his leg first. He had noticed very early on that there were no screws or panels on the exterior of the bracelet, only the light that indicated that it was on and the combination to unlock it. The combination consisted of four numbers and he knew that his chances of finding the right one was slim to none. So the only option was to turn it off. He slid his finger underneath the bracelet between his leg and the metal and felt a panel along the back side, but there was no way for him to get access to it without removing the bracelet. If he was going to get it off he was going to have to damage it in some way and he had no clue how he was going to be able to pull that off.

As Nick was sitting there inspecting the bracelet he heard footsteps approaching the door. Nick instantly became tense realizing that since he had fought with Crane only about 12 hours ago and did not have time yet to cool off that maybe Crane was coming back for a second round. Nick slowly stood up and moved as far away from the door as possible while he listened to the tuned beeps of someone entering the code to unlock the door.

The door slowly opened and in came Carey. She was carrying a tray of food as she walked to the table and sat down placing the tray on the table across from where she was sitting.

"Why don't you come up here and sit with me while you eat, we can talk?"

Nick looked at her suspiciously wondering what in the world she could be thinking. He hadn't seen her since he was first brought to this room, and now she was bringing him a sandwich and fruit and wanting to talk. "Sure," Nick responded cautiously as he walked over to the table sitting across from her.

"You need to stop making him so mad Nick. It is becoming harder and harder to calm him down each time."

Nick picked up the apple and took a bite. "Maybe he should just let me go and then I wouldn't be here to piss him off."

"That's what I mean."

"What? The fact that I don't want to be here pisses him off. Too bad, maybe he should of thought about that before he took me away from my home, my friends, my family."

"We can be your friends Nick. We can be your family. That's all that Nigel wants. He wants you to be his best friend again, and you just need to accept that he is not going to let you go until you are. You're not going to escape Nick, and we are not going to let you leave so just stop fighting it and make the best out of your situation. Talk to Nigel, I think you'll find that he is a wonderful and generous man. He is just the type of friend anybody would wish they had and you have him being handed to you on a silver platter and you keep slapping it away."

Nick laughed at that and he watched as Carey's smile turned into a frown.

"If you stop fighting Nick he will stop hurting you. He will treat you as a guest should be treated. Just give him a chance." With that Carey stood up from the table, picked up the several dirty trays and dishes that had accumulated by the door from his previous meals and left closing the door firmly behind her.

Nick watched her as she left. She was right about one thing he needed Crane to stop hurting him, and the only way for that to happen was for Crane to believe that Nick was his friend. Nicks face became blank as he began thinking of what he would say to Crane if they were truly friends, what would Crane want to hear that way the next time that Crane came he would be prepared.

* * *

Crane watched the television monitor that showed Nick sitting at the table talking to Carey. He hoped that she could convince him that it would be in his best interest to listen to Crane. That was all he wanted a fair chance at proving himself to Nick. Of showing Nick that he was just as good as any of his other friends, in fact he was better. He listened to Carey's beautiful voice as she described how wonderful he himself was and smiled. He had found someone he could truly love with her. She was his servant, doing anything for him, anything that he pleased. She loved him unconditionally and that was something that he had never had before in his life.

Now all he needed to make his life complete was for Nick to realize that being friends with him was the right thing. All he needed was to live in this beautiful house in the desert with his best friend and the love of his life. Away from the constant hustle and bustle of people, people who ignored you, who spat at you, and instead to be surrounded by people whose only thoughts were of you and how they wanted to make your life better.

As Carey left the room Crane watched Nick. Nick's face had gone still as if he just realized something important; maybe Crane hoped he had just realized that he had no choice but to be friends with Crane.

* * *

It had been a week since Nick had disappeared and still nothing they had run out of leads quickly. Everybody had been through the evidence at least a dozen times, any witness had given all the information they had, and still they knew nothing. The lab was quietest it had ever been as everyone though about Nick and where he could possibly be, and wondered if he was even still alive.

_Please Review!!_


	6. Chapter 6

__

Sorry that this one took me a little longer to post. I went home for the weekend and I am stuck writing on my sisters laptop which i hate. Whenever i'm typing I seem to hit the mouse thing in the center and end up writing in the middle of another paragraph. Sorry if there are more errors in this one, i'm tired and really want some sleep, but I wanted to post this tonight. I probably won't be able to post again until monday but if I get free time I will try to post sooner. Thanks for all the reviews everyone.

Warrick walked into Grissom's office after finishing his case to get a new assignment. Grissom was bent over his desk looking at a case file. Warrick knew that case file all to well, it was Nicks. It had been three months since Nick had been kidnapped and they had moved no farther then what they had after only 48 hours. Grissom was constantly looking at the case, as was Warrick and the rest of the team. If only he could just see something in the evidence, he knew that he had to be missing something, something that would be the key to finding Nick but he just couldn't find it.

Grissom finally noticed Warrick's presence as he slid into the chair across from him.

"Find anything?" Warrick asked.

"No, nothing. I keep reading Crane's journal entries hoping that there is some kind of clue as to where he would have taken Nick, but I've learned nothing new."

"Do you think Nick is still alive?"

"I hope so. I know that the chances of us finding him alive after three months are slim to none but I can't shake that feeling."

"What feeling?"

"That feeling that he is alive out there, just waiting for us to find him."

"If he is alive, do you think he's okay?"

"I honestly don't know. But it's not his physical health that worries me, but his mental."

"That is what worries me. He probably thinks that we stopped looking for him, that we've given up hope that he's even alive. He is all alone with that crazy man going through god knows what and we can do nothing to help him. I can do nothing to help him."

Grissom looked into Warrick's eyes as he said spoke conveying his concern not only for Nick but for what this ordeal was doing to the rest of his team. It was eating them alive not knowing where Nick was or how Nick was doing, or even if Nick was still alive. They all hoped he was, but Grissom was the boss and he had to be realistic. The chances of them getting Nick back alive was almost non-existent.

"We're not going to give up Warrick, not until we're sure that he is dead."

Warrick, smiled at that. "Thanks Grissom, I'm glad that I'm not the only one that thinks he's still out there. After the rumors I heard I wasn't so sure."

"What rumors?"

"That you're replacing Nick." Warrick stated. "I heard that you were starting to look for people to fill up our team."

"I am. Ecklie has been on me about putting more people on the team now that were down two, with Sara leaving and Nick missing we don't have enough people to take on our case load. I tried to hold it off as long as possible but he's right."

"But what about Nick?"

"Nick will always have a job here. I'm not replacing him I'm just bringing someone else on. When we find Nick he will still have is job if he wants it."

"Okay, but don't expect me to like it."

"I don't but you are just going to have to deal with it." With that Warrick stood up and left leaving Grissom to his thoughts.

* * *

Nigel and Carey were sitting together on the couch watching TV.

"I found a better job." Carey stated hoping that Nigel would be happy for her.

"Really?" Nigel replied. "Where at?"

"Some office building, in the town twenty minutes North of here. It's a low-level job, only data entry and secretarial work but it pays good money and we need it."

"I understand. I'm glad that you have found a better job. I wish I could help bring in the money. It really hurts me to see that you are supporting us, but I promise once Nick realizes that he belongs here we can move farther away and I will be able to work."

Crane leaned forward and gave Carey a quick kiss. "I'm going to go check on why don't you get prepared for your interview."

Carey watched as Crane headed downstairs toward Nick. She smiled as how she thought of how perfect her life was and how it would be even better now that she would be bringing in more cash.

* * *

Nick sat in a chair reading the sports section of a newspaper that Crane had brought him. Nick had been on Crane's good side lately which seemed to be happening more and more frequently and as a benefit to that he had been able to get extra things.

It had taken Nick a while to get good at lying to Crane; he seemed to be very good at picking up on Nick's deception. The first month had been hard. Crane knew that Nick was only trying to avoid the beatings and didn't really want to be his friend, but as time progressed he became less suspicious and began to think that Nick's intentions might be true. Nick was starting to wonder if maybe he was starting to understand Nigel. The man had his moments when he could be kind and generous but they were greatly overshadowed by his temper and rage.

As Nick pondered his life here now and his past, Crane stepped into the room carrying lunch for two on the tray. He placed it on the table and sat down across from Nick.

"So did you watch the game?" Nick asked as he sat down the newspaper and reached for one of the plates.

"Yeah, the final quarter was great." Crane replied.

"I read about that. It sounded great."

"Yeah, they were down by 2 in the last seconds of the game and a 3-pointer was shot on the buzzer. I wish you could have seen it."

"So do I," Nick responded. He put the food down and looked Crane in the eye. "You know Crane I think our friendship has really grown in these last few months. I feel like I have really gotten to know."

"I do too Nick."

"So I was thinking that maybe you could start letting me out every once in a while. You know that way I could see outside. I mean its been a while."

"No Nick, I know that we have been doing better but I don't completely trust you. When I am completely sure that you won't try to leave us then I might consider it. But can't you just be happy here, you have a nice room, all the comforts that a person really needs and me as a friend."

"I know Nigel, but I'm going stir crazy in here. I've read everything on these shelves, all the newspapers you bring me and I'm still bored out of my mind. You got to give me something more."

"No Nick." Crane said forcefully as he stood up from the table. "Be happy with you have its more then most." With that he left closing the door firmly behind him.

Nick slowly let out the breath that he had been unaware that he was holding. That had been close. Nick had pushed Crane as far as he had dared. Any farther and Nick would have been on the floor gasping in pain. Nick hated this. He hated having to pretend that everything was okay, that he was fine with his imprisonment in this room. All he could think about was his life before this room. Warrick, Greg, Catherine, Grissom, sometimes he even thought about Hodges. All he wanted was for them to find him. He realized though that if they hadn't found him now that they probably were never going to, but for some reason he just couldn't give up the hope that they would find some clue, some piece of evidence that would lead them to him and save him from this hell.

* * *

Grissom sat at desk thinking of the conversation he had had with Warrick only two days earlier. Were they ever going to find Nick? Would his team ever be the same? He was reaching for the answers but they seemed to be just beyond his grasp. As he though his phone rang.

"Grissom, it's Mandy!" She seemed overly excited to him especially since everyone had been in a fowl mood since Nick's abduction.

"What is it Mandy?"

"I got a hit on the fingerprints."

"What fingerprints? I'm not a case currently."

"I got a hit on the fingerprints from the letters found in Nigel Crane's cell. They belong to a Carey Higgins."

Grissom mouth almost dropped to the floor as he heard the news. A lead, a new lead in Nick's case. This was big, this was very big. Hopefully this would be the information they would need to find Nick, and hopefully they weren't too late.

_Again everyone thanks for the reviews. I look forward to them. So i'm almost done I've got about two to three more chapters plan hope you like them. I hope to have this done by tuesday which should be doable since tuesday is dead day and I have no classes. Thanks. PLEASE REVIEW!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry it took a while for my update. Busy, Busy weekend. Hope you like it. Thanks again for all the reviews._

Catherine stood with Warrick and Greg behind the glass watching the women who sat in the interrogation room

Catherine stood with Warrick and Greg behind the glass watching the women who sat in the interrogation room. She was the women who had been in contact with Crane. With any luck she would give them the information to find Nick, and he would be alive and well. She glanced over to the two men beside her and realized that they were just as anxious as she was. A noise made her face the window again and she watched as Brass, and Grissom entered the room and sat opposite of the woman.

"Carey Benton" Brass stated giving her a glare from across the table.

"Yes?" She responded meekly.

"Were you in contact with a Nigel Crane at Nevada State Correctional Facility?"

"No. I have no idea who you are talking about?" Carey gave them a very innocent look, which might have worked had both Brass and Grissom been so angry about the thought that this woman had something to do with Nick's kidnapping.

"Really? Because we found letters in Crane's cell from a Carey with your fingerprints on it." Grissom stated

"How do you know that they're my fingerprints? I have never been arrested before today."

"When you applied for that new job you had to go through a background check that included fingerprints do you remember?"

Carey's face dropped as she no longer kept the mask of an innocent bystander.

"Fine, yes I know Nigel. I love Nigel, and I will never tell you where he is."

"We just want to know about Nick?" Grissom replied. "We just want to find him and know that he is okay."

"No, I won't tell you about Nick either."

"Why not? We just want to bring him back home, with his friends and family. How would you feel if you were just taken from them? What if you were taken from Nigel?"

"No, I won't tell you. Nigel loves Nick and would be so upset if he was taken away. Nick is his best friend, besides I think you would be surprised at how well they get along now. I don't know that Nick would want to come back with you."

Grissom's face went white. Nick was alive, and something had happened to him to make Carey believe that Nick didn't want to come back to them. Had Nick given up hope? Had Nick thought that he would no longer be welcomed back? No, he couldn't believe that. Nick was just playing along in order to survive. That was it. Nick was a survivor.

"Nick would never be friends with Crane." Grissom replied and with that he stood up and walked out of the room leaving behind Brass and Carey.

Catherine walked out into the hallway and caught up to Grissom.

"She is never going to tell us anything." Catherine said as she came up along side of him.

"I know. We will just have to find out for ourselves. Have Greg and Warrick go over the car, and we will go check out where she worked."

Catherine nodded in agreement and headed off to find Greg and Warrick and give them their assignment.

* * *

Crane paced back in forth across the room. Occasionally he would glance at the monitor that showed Nick sitting in the room downstairs reading a book, and then he would go back to pacing.

She had been gone too long. Carey had gotten the new job and had headed off for her first day today. She was suppose to have been home almost 4 hours ago, but yet there was no sign of her. He had called her cell several times, but nobody ever picked up.

He was worried. Was she hurt? Was there an accident? Was she just held up at work and couldn't answer the phone? Or, had she left him?

As he thought about this last possibility his anger boiled inside. She had left him. Why would she do that? And every time he thought about it he would look up and see Nick on the monitor. Nick. Nick had said something to her to change her mind. It was Nick's fault; he had turned her against him.

Crane grabbed the remote lying on the desk next to the monitor and walked quickly out of the room and towards the stairs. He was going to find out what was going on, and what Nick had done no matter how long it took.

* * *

"I think I found something." Greg exclaimed as he pulled himself up from the position he was in on the floor of the car.

"What is it?" Warrick replied.

"It looks like some kind of manure. Didn't the dirt that we found in Nick's house indicate that Crane was probably coming from a farm."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well this might tell us what types of animals are on the farm, and hopefully it will narrow it down for us."

"That's good. I found out the mileage of her last trip, it was about 30 miles."

"So if she came into work from the house, then the house is in a 30 mile radius of the town. Hopefully the town is small and there aren't that many."

"We better get that sample to Hodges and figure out what it is."

Greg nodded in agreement and then headed towards the trace lab.

* * *

Catherine and Grissom had no luck with finding out any information in the town. She had moved there about 6 months ago, and they only time they saw her was when she got mail and groceries. They had headed back to the lab hoping that Warrick and Greg had had better luck.

As they walked into the lab they noticed that Hodges lab was unusually full. They headed towards the room and overheard the conversation inside.

"The manure that Greg found was llama manure." Hodges stated.

"How many farms contain horses in our radius Greg?" Warrick asked.

Catherine and Grissom walked in at this time and stood in the door way listening. Greg was at the computer doing a quick search. "There are three farms with llamas within that radius. One is owned by a Michael Hart, another by a Walter McKenzie, and a third by a Harold Markus."

"Any indication that one of these is a fake name by chance." Warrick asked as he scanned the map looking from the addresses of the houses Greg had listed and the map.

"None, which I can tell, but all three are pretty isolated. They don't have any living family and only come in town about twice a year."

"So, Crane and Carey could have easily killed one of the occupants and stole their house without anyone being the wiser."

"Yep, basically." Greg's face was downcast as he thought of how close they were yet still so far away.

"Well we will just have to search everyone then right?" Grissom said surprising everyone in the room as they looked to him.

"Grissom, no judge is going to give us a warrant to search 3 random people's houses on this evidence."

"Well I will just have to pull a favor then." Catherine stated and she turned around and left.

An hour later Catherine came back holding three warrants in her hand, one for each of the houses.

_Wow, it is coming to an end. Hopefully I will have the final few chapters up by the thursday. Hope you all enjoy it._


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry everybody for the long wait. I have actually had stuff to do and have been able to write much. This chapter is a lot longer then most of my other ones so hopefully that makes up for it. Thanks again for every one who has reviewed as I said before, it motivates me to write more. Hope you like it, I will try to update sooner next time._

Greg and Detective Vega drove towards the house of Michael Hart. He was the name on the deed to one of the houses that they believed Nick was being held. The team had split up into three groups in order to search the three houses. Greg and Vega had Michael Hart, while Grissom and Brass had Walter Mackenzie. The last house owned by a Harold Markus was taken by Warrick and Catherine.

Greg sat in the passenger seat watching as Vega drove at breakneck speeds through the Las Vegas Desert. The town where Carey had been picked up was located about an hour out of Las Vegas and each of the three houses were between 20 to 30 minutes away from there, but at the speeds that the whole team was driving at they would find out if Nick was in any of the houses within a 45 minutes.

Normally the speeds would have terrified Greg, but all he could think about was the possibility of finding Nick. The 45 minutes seem to go on forever, he never thought the time would end, but then they reached the town. He watched as the cars split off each heading in there own respective directions, each one hoping to find Nick.

Greg and Vega finally pulled up to a large white farmhouse. There wasn't much there, it obviously hadn't been worked in years but he did see a few llamas walking lazily around their pin. Greg pulled out his gun as he stepped out of the SUV. Vega and the two officers in the patrol car that had followed them had already made it halfway to the door.

"Las Vegas Police open up" yelled Vega through the closed front door. A shuffling was heard and then an old man opened the door.

"Are you Michael Hart?" Greg asked as he surveyed the man.

"Yes," he replied.

"We have a warrant to search the premises would you please step outside." Vega stated. The old man looked at him confused and was about to speak when Vega said, "Is there anyone else inside sir?"

"No." The man said. He was obviously flustered as Vega walked passed him and through the house. Vega and one of the police officers began to clear the house, and Greg followed close behind.

"Nothing" Vega commented as he turned to Greg, "I don't see any sign of Nick or Crane, and none to say that they were ever here."

Greg agreed as he pulled out his phone to text the others that they had not found Nick.

* * *

Nick was pacing in the room. Something was wrong he could feel it. It had been hours since either Crane or Carey had come to check on him. This hadn't been unusual when he had first arrived here, but as his ruse with Crane became more and more effective he had been receiving more and more visits, not only by Crane but by Carey too.

In fact Carey had just been in that morning bringing him breakfast before heading off to a new job. She had sat with him while he ate his cereal and toast and talked about Crane and how happy she was to be with him. She expressed how happy she was that Nick was here with them and that he and Nigel were now good friends. As she left she leaned over and gave him a hug whispering in his ear "Thank you Nick." Then she picked up his tray and walked out the door.

That was the last time he saw anyone and now he was becoming very worried by the silence. As he pondered what could be happening, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching the door. They were hard and fast. It sounded like Crane was very angry. This was not good for Nick and he knew this.

The door abruptly opened after the harmonic code was entered. Crane stormed across the room directly where Nick stood. In one hand he held a remote. The remote that controlled the electric shocks that could be sent through Nick's body at any time. This was not good. Crane had even bothered to bring down the device with him on his last few visits. Nick had hoped that Crane was beginning to truly trust him and that violence would no longer be necessary.

Obviously he had been wrong as he watched Crane press the button and Nick crashed to the ground convulsing.

"What did you do?" Crane gritted through barred teeth as he finally let off on the button.

"I don't know what you're talking about Nigel, I didn't do anything."

"You lie."

"No, I'm not. I have been just sitting here waiting for you to come and visit me."

"What did you say to Carey?"

"What?" Nick was very confused. He had no idea what Crane was referring to. He had said nothing out of the ordinary to Carey he just enjoyed breakfast and a polite conversation this morning just like they had almost every morning since Nick had started to act like Crane's friend.

"What did you say to make her leave? I watched the tape from this morning. She whispered something to you. What did she say? Did she say she was going to leave?"

Crane pressed the button again sending another wave of pain coursing through Nick's body. "She just said thank you. She was happy that I had listened to her and had become friends with you."

"I don't believe you" bellowed Crane as he kicked Nick's helpless body on the ground.

Nick groaned as he wasn't prepared for the kick after being assaulted by the electrical ankle bracelet. He curled in on himself trying to protect his body. "I swear Nigel! I didn't say anything. I didn't do anything. If she left I didn't give her the idea. Why would I want her to leave? She makes you happy and as your friend I want you to be happy."

Crane laughed at this. "Happy? You want me to be happy? Yeah, right. All you have ever wanted is to survive. You put up with me and you might try but don't insult my intelligence I know that you have never truly believed that you were my friend."

"That's not true Nigel. I realize now how great a person you are, and I would never jeopardize are friendship."

"Don't lie" Crane yelled as he became fully enraged. He again hit the button and Nick cried out as the electricity racked his body once more.

"Nigel please!" Nick begged, but that only seemed to enrage Crane even more as he began to kick Nick all the while holding down the button. Crane watched as Nick tried to protect himself from his merciless kicks until finally Nick slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Were coming Nicky" thought Grissom as he stared out the window while Brass drove quickly to the house of one Walter Mackenzie. They were going to find him, they had too. It had already been so long. It had been three months since Nick had been kidnapped by Nigel Crane inside his own home. Grissom couldn't even imagine what Nick must be going through.

He was alive he knew that for sure at least. He had always had a feeling that he was alive and, from what little Carey had said, she had solidified this thought in his mind. Why else would Crane still be in Vegas if not for Nick. It was hard enough to get an escaped convict across state or country lines, but one with a kidnapped full-grown man that would be next to impossible.

The car suddenly came to a stop outside of a green and yellow farmhouse. Llamas grazed lazily around the yard as Brass, Grissom, and the two police officers in the accompanying squad car exited their vehicles.

Brass stormed up to the bright yellow front door and began banging as loud as possible. "Las Vegas Police"

No one answered. Brass looked over to Grissom who nodded his head in approval. Brass quickly kicked down the door and stormed into the house. The two officers followed and Grissom brought up the rear. They quickly cleared each room finding nothing in the house. Grissom stood in the kitchen looking out a window into the back yard.

"Hey Brass," Grissom yelled into the other room. "There is an old barn back there; we need to go check it out."

Grissom, Brass and one of the officers hurried out the back door and ran up to the barn doors. Brass and Grissom waited as the officer slowly opened one of the doors while Brass covered him. Once the door was open they quickly entered the barn spreading out. Brass went up taking the loft above. As he climbed up the ladder he noticed a pair of feet partially hidden by a haystack.

"Las Vegas Police." He yelled as he slowly walked around the haystack.

"What the hell?" Shrieked the pair of legs just as Brass came into view.

"Who are you?" Questioned Brass as he fixed his gun on the man.

"Walter Mackenzie. Who the hell are you?"

Brass slowly lowered his gun, "Jim Brass, LVPD, we have a warrant to search your house. Do you know anything about the whereabouts of a Nigel Crane, or Nick Stokes?"

"No, nothing."

"Will you please come to the house with me sir" Brass and Mackenzie slowly walked down the ladder where they met up with Grissom and the officer.

"Do you find anything?" Grissom asked as he surveyed the man.

"No, just Mr. Mackenzie here. Apparently he was taking a nap up in the loft."

"Great" Grissom replied as his phone rang. He picked it up and noticed a text message from Greg. "Greg didn't find him either, lets just hope that Catherine and Warrick do."

* * *

Crane stood over Nick's unconscious body which still moved from the electricity surging through his body. Crane finally released the button allowing the charge to stop.

He believed Nick. He never really thought that Nick would be able to convince Carey to abandon him. Unlike Nick he knew that Carey loved him unconditionally and that nothing would make her stray from him. But he was angry, and he had needed an outlet for that anger. Nick seemed to be the best option.

He sat down in a chair opposite of where Nick laid going over possibilities of what could have happened. Then he heard something. A large thump had sounded above followed by someone yelling "Las Vegas Police." They had found him.

Then it all clicked into place. That is what had happened to Carey. They had somehow discovered that she was with him and had taken her, used her to find him. They had taken her from him! The love of his life was now in the custody of those bastards who had imprisoned him for so long. Anger coursed through Crane's veins and he got up from his chair taking one last look at Nick before closing the door behind him and slowly making his way up the stairs.

* * *

Warrick sped through the country streets while Catherine sat silently beside him. They were headed to the house of a Harold Markus. They had the farthest to go compared to the other two houses taken by the rest of the team, but that didn't bother Warrick as he sped along.

He had a feeling, a gut feeling that their house was the one where Nick was. Catherine had been silent the entire time until her phone rang and she pulled it out.

"That was a text from Greg, they didn't find Nick." Warrick pressed on the pedal faster as he heard the news. Now Nick could be in one of the remaining two. Suddenly Catherine's phone rang again. "That was Grissom, Nick wasn't at his house either. That means ours is the last one." With that Warrick pressed the pedal even harder then before practically breaking thorough the floor as he sped off towards the house.

Catherine and Warrick quickly arrived at the house followed by the 2 officers behind them. Warrick knew that as a CSI he wasn't suppose to help clear a house, but he didn't care. Nick was in there and damn to hell if he was going to wait to find him.

Warrick and the two officers quickly made it up the stairs and to the front door. Without hesitation Warrick kicked the door down and announced their presence in the house with a loud "Las Vegas Police"

The two officers quickly started to check the house while Warrick moved towards the back. Catherine followed somewhat behind as she waited for the rooms to be cleared before entering.

As Warrick entered the farthest room, he noticed several electronic devices. There seemed to be a recorder, a television, and some device that he could not identify. He slowly walked into the room, his gun up and scanning. He soon was able to view what was on the screen and was shocked by what he saw.

Nick was lying unmoving in the middle of the floor. The first thing that went through Warrick's mind was whether of not Nick was dead or unconscious. He didn't look good that was for sure, his face was bruised and he was lying in a weird position as if he had not been moving while he was being kicked. Warrick stared at the image of Nick praying that he was alive and okay.

* * *

Crane climbed up the stairs slowly making sure to not make a sound. As he reached the top of the stairs he slowly opened the door that led to the security center where they kept an eye on Nick. As he peeked through the crack he noticed somebody standing with their back to the door. He silently crept through and reached for his gun located high on a shelf by the door.

As he held the gun in his hand, he aimed it to the back of the tall black man watching Nick. He tried to avoid all sound but his foot stepped on a loose floorboard and a loud creek echoed through the room.

Suddenly the man quickly around bringing up his own gun, but Crane was too quick. Before the man could even fully raise his weapon Crane fired his own hitting the man square in the chest. The man fell to the ground quickly not uttering a sound.

_Hey, hope you guys liked it. If you didn't figure it out, Warrick is the one who got shot. And if you did like it, tell me. Please Review!! Thanks!!  
_


	9. Chapter 9

_Sorry it took so long to update this time, but it's done. This is the last chapter. I hope you all like it. Thanks to KASEY64 for noticing that mistake on chapter 8. I never would have saw it, and thanks to everyone that reviewed. I have to say that I quite enjoyed my first experience at writing fanfiction and will probably continue to do it. So THANK YOU everyone and I hope you enjoy the end._

Warrick stared at the moniter which showed Nick lying on the floor unmoving

Warrick stared at the monitor which showed Nick lying on the floor unmoving. A million thoughts rushed through his head. Was he okay? Was he alive? He was going to kill Crane when he found him. He couldn't believe that he would do something like this to him. Nick had already been through so much in his life and now he had even more to deal with.

As Warrick stared at the screen he suddenly heard a creak from behind. He immediately turned around to face the noise bringing up his gun as he did, but he wasn't quick enough. He turned in time to see Crane standing about 10 feet behind him in a doorway holding a gun. He watched as Crane pulled the trigger of the gun without any hesitation, and felt the bullet when it hit him in the chest. Warrick fell immediately to the ground, the air rushing out of his lungs.

Warrick lay on the ground unmoving, not breathing, for several seconds before he finally inhaled deeply. "Thank god for vests" he thought, as he began to try and breathe normally. Even though he had been wearing a vest the gun had been fired at a fairly close range, and the bullet had hit him at full speed which ended up knocking the wind out of him and probably bruising a few ribs.

Warrick tried to remain as still as possible as he slowly opened his eyes. Crane might not have realized that he was wearing a vest since he had been wearing his CSI vest over it. His gun was out of reached he realized regrettably. "Must have fallen out of my hand when I went down," he thought. He slowly began to turn his head and noticed Crane standing only about a foot away from him, gun pointed at Warrick's head.

"Now it is pointless to play dead Warrick." Crane said through a tight grin. "I can obviously see that you are just fine. Wearing a vest were ya? Well no matter this one that is about to go through your skull won't miss."

Warrick stared in horror as he watched Crane's finger slowly begin to pull the trigger. He knew that he had to do something, but what? Crane was to close and it only took a half second to pull the trigger. He was going to die here, after finally finding Nick he was going to let him down by being murdered by this crazy man. Warrick just stared at the barrel of the gun, just waiting for the impending bang, and then he heard it, two successive gunshots.

He wasn't dead though. He had definitely heard a gunshot but he was still alive and kicking. He watched as the gun that Crane was holding slowly fell from his grip and Crane began to sag towards the ground. Warrick rolled out of the way of the falling body, and stood up to see Catherine with her gun out aimed at Crane's now dead body.

"Thanks Cath, nice timing." Warrick said as he watched Catherine. She hadn't moved once since she had shot Crane. "Hey Catherine, are you okay?" Warrick slowly walked over to her and placed his hand over hers, removing her gun from her grip with ease.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just never killed anyone before."

"Well he was about to kill me, and he has kept Nick here for over 3 months. There is nothing to feel bad about."

"Yeah, I know, it's just that I still killed a man."

"Well I appreciate it. I'm glad that he is the one dead and not me. Now come on lets go find Nick."

Catherine nodded in agreement and both Warrick and her began moving towards the door that Crane had come from. It led to a set of stairs that led downward towards a basement of some sorts. Warrick moved quickly down the steps with Catherine close behind they soon reached a door. The door was thick with an electronic lock. A keypad was located on the right side of the large door. Warrick figured they needed a code to get the door down.

Warrick began to furiously pound on the door. "Nicky? Nicky can you hear me?" There was no answer. "We need to get someone down here who can get this door open."

"I'll call Archie and get him down here. I'll also call the rest of the team and tell them that we think we found Nick, you stay here and see if you can get a response." Catherine began to walk up the stairs to get better reception to make the calls leaving Warrick to pound on the door trying to raise Nick from unconsciousness she hoped.

* * *

Nick slowly woke to hear a pounding on the outer door, and his name being yelled.

"Nicky? Nicky? Come on man wake up. Let me know that you're okay in there."

Was that Warrick? He must be going crazy, suffering from hallucinations after his last beating from Crane. How had they found him? It had been almost three months, and they hadn't found him, how did they suddenly know where he was.

"Nicky, answer me man. I know you're in there. Come on give me a sign that you're alive."

Warrick sounded frantic on the other side of the door.

"Warrick?" Nick questioned as he began to slowly lift himself up from the ground into a sitting position.

"Nick? Did I just hear you man? Speak louder."

"Yeah Warrick it's me. Is that really you out there man."

"Yeah man, it's really me. Were trying to get in there to you but we can't get through this lock. Catherine just went to call someone to get the door open for us."

Nick was relieved to realize that this might not be a hallucination after all, but that it might be really Warrick outside the door. "Catherine is here too?"

"Yeah man she is just upstairs making a call."

"Why don't you just enter the code?" Nick asked.

"We don't know the code and Crane is dead so we can't get it from him."

The news of Crane's death hit Nick like a truckload of bricks. Crane was dead? Could it be true? "Crane is dead?" Nick asked his voice slightly shaking.

"Yeah Nick he's dead. He is going to get anywhere near you ever again."

Nick absorbed all this information slowly, looking at the room that Crane had kept him in for so long. He stared down at the bracelet encasing his ankle thinking of the pain that Crane had caused him. So much pain and now it was over. Nick was going to be able to go home, to be with his friends again, his family. "Hit a few of the keys for me, and I can tell you what the code is."

"How?" Warrick questioned through the door.

"Each key makes a distinctive sound. I have heard it enough times I can tell you which ones make up the code."

"Okay, I am going to hit them 0-9 sequentially."

Nick listened as he heard each key beep. "The code is 77862."

He watched the door as he heard Warrick enter the melodic tune into the keypad and the lock changed from red to green. He slowly stood as the door opened to reveal Warrick. Warrick broke out in a huge grin as he came rushing over to Nick hugging him gently.

"Oh my god Nick it is great to see you man." Warrick slowly stepped back to survey Nick assessing his injuries. "You don't look to good man, come on lets get you out of here." Warrick started to usher Nick out of the room, but as they approached the threshold Nick turned away and moved back toward the bed.

"No, I can't"

Warrick was shocked by this sudden outburst from Nick. "What's wrong Nick? Crane is dead he can't do anything to you now. Let's go and get you checked out and then you can come home."

"I can't leave the room." Nick stated flatly.

"Yes you can Nick, now come on lets go upstairs and you can see everybody." Warrick watched as Nick sat on the bed and slowly lifted up his pant leg revealing an electronic bracelet strapped to his ankle.

"No Warrick, I mean I literally can't leave. If I try to cross the threshold with this thing still active I will receive severe electric shocks until I come back in the room."

Warrick stared in horror and the bracelet noticing the inflamed skin around the area. "How do you know that Crane wasn't lying to you Nick so that you wouldn't try to cross?"

"Because, I tried to escape once and as soon as I crossed the threshold I was hit with electrical current."

Warrick watched Nick's face as he remembered the pain of his failed attempt at escape. "Okay man. Will figure out how to turn it off and then will get you out of here."

"Warrick?" They heard Catherine yell from the top of the stairs.

"Down here Cath, I've got Nick."

Slowly Catherine emerged in the doorway. "Nick!" She exclaimed as she rushed to the bed pulling Nick into a tight embrace.

"Hey Cath," Nick said through the tight embrace. He couldn't believe it. They had really come. After all this time being stuck with Crane he had began to give up hope, but now here they were. He was actually touching them, holding them.

Catherine finally released him. "Why are you two still down here instead of upstairs?" Catherine asked suspiciously.

"Crane but some time of bracelet on Nick's ankle, we can't leave until we get it off, or turn it off."

"Oh my god, that is horrible." Catherine looked at Nick whose head was down staring at the thing that kept him in this room. "Archie is coming, will figure it out." She said hopefully.

Grissom arrived to the very active house. Police cars and crime tape was everywhere. Media who had covered the story greatly at the beginning were now surrounding the house, eager for new news in the case.

Grissom pushed himself through the onslaught of reporters fending off questions with answers of no comment. He finally reached the house and was immediately pointed in the direction of where Nick and the rest of his team were located.

Grissom walked into the back room as he watched David moving the dead body of Nigel Crane onto a stretcher to be removed from the scene. Nick didn't need to see that when they finally got him out of the room. He saw Greg and Archie working diligently on a piece of equipment next to a monitor. "That must be the device that won't allow Nick to leave the room," he thought.

"How is it going guys?" He asked as he approached the duo.

"I think we have almost got it Grissom." Archie replied never looking up from his work. "We should have it off in about 5 minutes."

"Okay, get it done as soon as possible."

Archie nodded and continued his work while Greg watched closely by making the occasional comment.

Grissom began the descent into the basement and was surprised by what he found. Nick was sitting on a stretcher with his shirt off while a paramedic attended to him. Catherine and Warrick stood on either side of him, Catherine had her arm on one of Nick's shoulder and Warrick was making idle conversation with Nick.

Nick looked like a mess. He had bruises ranging all over his body, and one of his shoulders had a massive scar on it. As Grissom approached him, he realized that it was a gunshot wound. What had Crane done to him?

"Hey Nick." Grissom said as he walked into Nick's eye line.

"Hey Grissom," Nick responded softly.

"How are you doing?"

"Okay, I guess. I just wish I could get out of here."

"I know. Were trying to get you out of here as fast as possible, are you in any pain?" Grissom said motioning towards the bruises covering Nick's body.

"No, not really, I'm pretty use to it by know."

Grissom did not like the sound of that. How many times had Nick been beaten? What had he gone through?

"Oh Nick." Catherine exclaimed putting her hands over her mouth.

"Anytime Nigel got angry, or thought I was lying to him, or try to appease him he would electrocute me with this," he said raising his leg and pointing to his ankle, "and beat me if he was especially mad."

"Man, I am so sorry. I wish we had gotten here sooner, I wish we could have found you so much sooner. I can't imagine what you have been through." Warrick said grabbing Nick's hand and looking him in the eye.

"Its okay man, I know you guys did your best, it's not your fault." Nick responded.

Grissom didn't like this. The entire time he had been down here Nick had responded to everything they said in the same voice. It was the voice he used when he knew that he had done something wrong and should be punished.

"Hey Cath, Warrick can you leave me and Nick alone for a minute?"

Warrick began to protest but then looked into his bosses eyes and realized that it would be pointless.

"Sure Gris"

Slowly Catherine and Warrick left the room.

"You too please," he said to the paramedic who had just finished bandaging Nick's bruised ribs. The paramedic nodded and quietly left the room. Now only Nick and Grissom were in the room.

"Nick, look at me will ya?"

Nick slowly rose his head to look at his boss. Grissom stared into his eyes, seeing all the pain and torment that this man had gone through.

"Nick, I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner, but I want you to know that we never gave up. We never stopped looking for you, and look we found you. I can't even imagine what you have gone through these past three months, but I want you to realize that we all love you and nothing could change that. Crane was psychotic, and whatever he has said to you during this whole time was a lie. We are you're friends, we are you're family and none of us would ever give that up. Do you understand that?"

Nick slowly nodded and then he heard a beep and looked down at his ankle to see that the light had changed from green to red signaling that it was now turned off. His eyes began to well up with tears, as he realized that he was finally going to be able to leave this room, to leave this nightmare. He couldn't believe how dependent he had been on Crane. Crane had been his only source of human contact, and now that he was finally able to leave it became too much. Nick started to sob hysterically and Grissom pulled him into a hug, holding Nick as he cried on his shoulder.

"Let's get out of here" Grissom said as he placed his arm around Nick's waist and they slowly crossed the threshold of the room, and headed home.

_Again thank you everyone. Especially you guys who wrote good contructive reviews it really motivated me to write. _

_Thanks Blue Peanut m and m, Mma63, Cendrekia, and MKlynx. I really enjoyed your reviews._


End file.
